


Praise

by teiidae



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Hollow Bastion | Radiant Garden, M/M, Praise Kink, join my XigMar cult, that feel when you're a boomer and you like being complimented
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:20:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22903864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teiidae/pseuds/teiidae
Summary: Xigbar doesn't realize how much he likes being told he's a good boy until he's told he's a good boy. Unfortunately for him, being good at recon makes him a prime target for flying solo. He gets another chance to get the attention of the only person who's given it to him recently, but of course he actually has to do his job well to get what he wants.
Relationships: Marluxia/Xigbar (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	Praise

Xigbar remembered that it had been raining.

He remembered that despite the cold sheets drowning out their words for the most part, the massive Heartless that had needed to be removed from the outskirts of Hollow Bastion had been felled through his efforts combined with Marluxia’s, and they had both been exhausted.

Now, Xigbar hadn’t really considered himself the mover and shaker of the Organization. He was very much a sit back and watch type of pawn, the type of guy who  _ could _ get a good shot in sometimes but preferred to wait until it was absolutely necessary to intervene. He was a survivor. An observer. A mole with a thick calloused finger on the pulse of a lot more than he’d ever let on.

Of course, he had often been unthanked for his work, but that came with the territory, and it had never really bothered him until now. It had never crossed his mind until he had been helping Marluxia to his feet, mumbling something about teamwork or whatever these neophytes needed, and Marluxia had looked at him with an uncharacteristic authenticity and had offered a compliment.

_ Good job out there. _

Xigbar hadn’t really made too big of a deal out of it then. He had even made a joke about not needing positive reinforcement as the newbies did and Marluxia had rolled his eyes and opened a portal back to The Castle That Never Was without responding. But after they had bathed, after Xigbar had written his report, and after Saix had blinked at him obtusely, Xigbar found himself laying on his side in his room, staring out the giant window with a wry smile teasing at the corner of his lips.

The sky was its usual gunmetal grey. Dark, foreboding, and threatening rain, but never following up on that threat. Xigbar was deep in thought and he kept casting out the fluttering in his stomach, looping Marluxia’s complement in his mind’s eye over and over again, annoyed that it wouldn’t stop but also annoyed that it  _ would _ . Eventually.

He slept uneasily that night.

\---

It took what felt like an eternity for another paired mission to cross his desk. Xemnas took full advantage of the fact that Xigbar was a part of the “Recon Squad”, and worked better alone more often than not. Outside of a couple guiding missions with Demyx to get him back on track, Xigbar flew solo and he hated every second of it.

Each time he’d return to Xemnas’s office, he’d fling his report onto the desk, shoot the shit to an unblinking colleague, and then be dismissed without further instruction. It had been nice before, but now Xigbar found himself holding his breath for some kind of acknowledgment. And when he didn’t get it, he’d portal away after a cheeky comment and then sit in his room brooding, annoyed that he was annoyed by Xemnas’s behavior.

Would it kill the man to tell him that he was doing alright? Xigbar didn’t think so.

But after months of subtly pressing the right buttons and suggesting different methods and keeping his nose clean and his head down, a paired mission finally crossed his path again. And not with Demyx, though he wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been. Demyx was notoriously lazy. Though Xigbar thought he played a mean riff when the inspiration struck him.

“The Heartless is back,” Xemnas muttered. He absently twirled a few strands of silver-grey hair between his fingers as he stared out his window up to the blank hole in the sky that would eventually become Kingdom Hearts. His Kingdom Hearts. He stood for so long that Xigbar had to clear his throat to remind him that he, indeed, was still standing there waiting for him to finish his thought. “You are to go with someone else. I don’t want you taking this one on alone. Reports say it’s evolved since the last time you saw it and according to the subsequent recon missions, it blends into its surroundings a lot more than normal.”

“Sounds like a pain in the neck,” Xigbar replied, taking the file without pause.

“And it’s my understanding that it’s poisonous, so be on your guard. I don’t want any accidents.”

“Wonderful,” Xigbar snorted. “And by wonderful I mean not wonderful at all. Am I allowed to choose? Don’t want anyone getting in the way, or worse, being bad at their job. Send Demyx, yeah?”

Xemnas raised an eyebrow. “You can choose. It makes no difference to me so long as the task is done well. I was going to suggest Axel. Or, perhaps, Lexaeus.”

“Eh, all valid suggestions, but they’ve been busy lately and might not be up to it. And far less, ah, what’s the word? Disposable.”

No response.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be careful.”

Xemnas merely nodded in response, his mind elsewhere once more. Xigbar waited for his dismissal, but it never came. Xemnas had a habit of forgetting the Nobodies under his employ could not read his mind, no matter how well versed they were in his mannerisms. Xigbar waited only a few more moments before disappearing in an oval of darkness.

He’d be sure to bring up Xemnas’s lack of communication in the next feedback session.

The other end of the portal led to the lesser-used recreation room. Marluxia was hunched over a foosball table, hair tied back and staring daggers into Demyx’s eyes as his hands flew from handle to handle to flip the little human soccer players, the clattering of the plastic ball zooming across the fake field. Demyx was equally focused, and the two of them were in a heated battle while Luxord and Larxene watched with passive interest.

“Oi!” Xigbar said, striding over. “We got places to be, Sunflower.”

Marluxia grit his teeth and didn’t move. “Busy,” he said. “And I’m done for the day.”

“Yeah, old man,” Demyx replied. “I’ve got munny riding on this.” More clattering and the spinning of handles. “And a mission to Agrabah that no one wants to take off my hands.”

“Bossman’s gonna get antsy,” Xigbar sighed. “I’ve gotta take you to Hollow Bastion.”

Still no signal that he intended to move. “Again? We just cleared it out a few months ago. It shouldn’t be due for another extermination for a while. Get off my back, Xigbar, will you?” Another intense volley of back and forths between him and Demyx in determined silence. “Take someone else. I hear Demyx is available.”

Larxene’s attention moved from the game to Xigbar’s face, and he was keenly aware of the spite that came from her. She was assessing if she had to interfere and Xigbar’s face remained expressionless even though he really didn’t want to interrupt them right now. She had to understand that he was just trying to get some attention and Marluxia was very good at giving it despite being such a pain to work with sometimes.

Demyx snorted. “Oh, yeah? Well, _ I  _ heard that you have a date with Hollow Bastion  _ and  _ Agrabah.”

He flicked his wrist and the ball shot towards the goal, only to be deflected. The whole room saw it happen. Marluxia stayed focused and before Demyx could respond, the ball was in the opposite goal. Demyx frowned deeply, venomously, before sighing and shrugging in defeat.

“Aw man, that’s not fair.”

Marluxia rolled his eyes. “Larxene will pay you a visit later.”

“Sure as hell will, water boy.” There was high pitched cackling that followed what was meant to be a threat.

Marluxia leaned away from the table and finally turned his attention to Xigbar, who hadn’t moved and had a small frown pulling at the corners of his lips. “Let’s see the file, then.”

Xigbar handed it over. “We’re burning sunlight, kiddo. We should have been gone yesterday.”

Marluxia took a deep breath and pulled his hair free, though he still had a potent look of displeasure on his face. “Fine.”

He opened a portal and slipped through, Xigbar not that far behind.

\---

Hollow Bastion had a number of corridors winding through the underbelly of the castle, which was quickly filling with a number of Heartless of all shapes and sizes. Xigbar made a mental note to inform Xemnas of the increase in breeding here and to monitor it a bit more often. The blots in the sky were demon towers forming naturally, and Xigbar wasn’t so sure this was normal.

Something was whipping them into a frenzy.

Marluxia noticed as well, and he pulled his hood up as the winds picked up and wisps of water rippled up from the waterway entrance, lashing at their boots. It was soon accompanied by the sound of powerful wings and a deep thrum from the air. The unmistakable sound of a Heartless on patrol. Xigbar grabbed Marluxia’s arm and forced him deeper into the tunnel as an enormous brown and black body hovered passed, flanked by bell shaped Heartless in a number of colors.

“Taking it a bit more seriously now, kiddo?” Xigbar muttered.

“Yeah,” Marluxia replied, hesitant. Just what had Xemnas assigned him to? This was out of the ordinary. “I still need you to get off my back.”

Once the massive form had moved on, Marluxia trudged deeper into the tunnels, Xigbar less than an arm's length away. It was labyrinthian in a way it hadn’t been before and Marluxia frowned as the light from the entrance dissipated in favor of unending darkness accented only by the sound of running water and dripping echoes. Surely this was an elaborate ruse, and they had little choice but to go along.

Their splashy footsteps bounced off the walls in all directions and for a while, they were greeted with nothing. Xigbar grew antsy, trying simultaneously to be relaxed and desperately grasp for Marluxia’s attention. Anything to get the other’s eyes on him so he could impress. Or maybe, he reasoned, he could just do his job well.

For that had been the exact thing that had triggered this in the first place.

“I’d offer a light, but I don’t think that’s going to help us,” Xigbar said finally.

Marluxia’s face was obscured and Xigbar could only see a faint outline of pink in the darkness. Missions that involved sensory deprivation were some of the worst to deal with, especially when the stakes were high. He couldn’t read his partner as well, and when it came to a fight, verbal communication wasn’t usually the most efficient. So far, Marluxia seemed focused on staying sharp with his other senses.

“Let’s hope it’s not in the tunnels,” Marluxia said. “Any sign of it?”

“None so far,” Xigbar reached out to the tunnel wall and explored it for a brief moment before pulling his gloved hand away. Nothing. “But, I wouldn’t get too excited. It’s probably hiding in a lower chamber. I figure we stay close, get a feel for the place, and catch it off guard. It doesn’t know we’re here.”

“Good idea,” Marluxia replied.

Xigbar’s chest, despite his best efforts, felt fluttery and he smiled for a moment before a frown returned, adamant.

Marluxia spun on his heels. “I was going to send a handful of Reapers, but they aren’t as stealthy as your Snipers. I’ll keep them on standby for now, but you’re more well versed here, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

Marluxia snorted. “Then take the lead. As much as I like to prove my worth, or whatever it is you higher-ups are looking for, I’m much better at culling the enemy than seeking them out in unknown territory.” There was a long pause and Xigbar picked up an element of sarcasm. “Besides, you’re not going to get anything you want out of me without working for it.”

“What are you talking about?” Xigbar said a little faster than he had meant to.

“You know.”

Marluxia didn’t wait for a response. He couldn’t see as well as less and less light filtered through, but he followed the system until it opened into a wider cavernous room that branched into other equally dark paths. There was a tiny opening far above them letting in light that occasionally flickered.

Xigbar stayed quiet, focusing on whatever he could to at least pretend he wasn’t intrigued by how vague that...threat was. He wasn’t even entirely sure if it was a threat, though it sounded like one. Punishment for not doing well.

No. No. No. It couldn’t be that.

It was an invitation. Of course it was. Marluxia was infuriating in a lot of ways, but he was very open to flirtation and frequently reciprocated those advances when he was feeling frisky. Xigbar had seen him do it with other members, though his reservations with the higher-ranked were very obvious. A good quality to have in such a competitive environment. Even better if one could pass it off as aloofness.

His face felt warmer all of a sudden.

Together, the two of them determined that it would be safer to travel through Hollow Bastion in the waterway for as long as possible. The rest of Hollow Bastion was crawling with various Heartless and seemed to be on strict patrolling schedules each time they took a moment to peek out from openings in the aqueducts. It didn’t help that Heartless had also begun manifesting within the waterways themselves and some of the paths had been blocked by a sticky wall of interlaced shadows.

“We’re getting closer,” Xigbar whispered. “Be on guard.”

Marluxia didn’t need to be told twice, though he did not draw upon Graceful Dahlia’s power. It was too soon, and he wouldn’t be any good in such close quarters. They traveled as a single unit, Xigbar with Sharpshooter at the ready. The tunnels darkened more and more and Marluxia knew that their target lay within that darkness. Perhaps fifty feet out?

One hundred?

The darkness pressed against their eyeballs like a thick lacquer. Their breathing stopped almost entirely, and they waded through the water slowly, making as little noise as possible. They were accompanied by the ringing of bells and various groans and grunts further into the darkness.

Marluxia considered summoning Graceful Dahlia now, but it would certainly draw too much attention. The swirling of darkness too loud, the scraping of her thorns against the brick obvious. He felt Xigbar’s hand at his back and shrugged away from it. Now was not the time to get distracted, no matter how alluring the thought of flirting while being in obvious danger. The pressing continued, and Marluxia tensed.

“Stop touching me, Xigbar,” Marluxia hissed.

No response.

Marluxia tensed further, and pulled from his pools of magic, conjuring a light cloud of wafting poison and flower petals that were a toxic red and yellow despite not being able to see them. No sooner had he done so was he ripped from his feet by the same hand around his waist, which hadn’t been a hand at all. The pointed claw hand cut deep, and he was wrenched through the tunnels into another large room with branching pathways, a single bead of light sprinkling down from far above.

The Heartless was huge. A sprawling purple spider with pink bands and swirled yellow eyes. They glowed in the darkness as well, and it opened its mouth to shriek before slamming Marluxia into the murky water below. The surface felt like concrete, and Marluxia groaned with the effort to stay in one piece as he sank. The spider Heartless’s eyes pulsed with energy, as did a sinister looking band of yellow patterns on its backmost legs.

The Heartless descended on strings of dark webbing, calling for reinforcements with clacking mandibles and spitting acid. It was still so dark that he couldn’t see much, but he had to do something or he was going to be shredded by this monster. He called Graceful Dahlia to his hand and swung with all his might, filling the entire area with light as the band of magic traveled through the air.

They were in a much deeper section of the waterways. It was a well. At least a few hundred feet deep. The Heartless spit out a glob of black web and culled the magic mid flight, plunging the area in darkness once more. The yellow bands stopped glowing and Marluxia could hear it moving around the walls. The clicking movements were followed by a series of brilliant red darts of energy that zoomed from a perch much higher up. Xigbar, mouth covered and body partially wrapped in a cocoon.

He looked livid.

The Heartless leaped across the chasm, spinning more and more web until the strands suddenly snapped under Xigbar’s assault. The Heartless plummeted towards the water and Marluxia took a deep breath as he was submerged in the murky drink, the Heartless’s bands illuminating the depths and still grabbing for him.

Graceful Dahlia was much less graceful in the water and just barely stopped the reaching arms from their prey. A shower of red darts pelted the Heartless and whizzed through the water, anchoring at the bottom and continuing to glow. Marluxia’s eyes burned from the acidity of the stagnant pool, but he could see a number of lesser swimming Heartless gathering in an effort to strike.

He flung Graceful Dahlia at the spider Heartless and used that momentum to get back to the surface, the Heartless’s flailing creating huge waves that pushed him along.

“You alright down there, kiddo?” echoed Xigbar’s voice. It was nearly drowned out by the splashing water.

“I’m fine!”

Marluxia swam to the edge of the pool, searching for any solid place where he could stand. There was a thin edge of brick flooring around half of the chamber and Marluxia’s stomach sank as he reached it and barely had enough room to stand, let alone fight. He was going to have to think on his feet, but he really was not suited for fighting in water.

With a flick of annoyance and a commanding wave of his hand, a small swarm of Reaper Nobodies appeared and were immediately doused by the crashing waves. They hovered attentively as Marluxia balanced on the precarious edge, their feet hidden by a flared skirt.

“You,” he said, pointing to the largest one. “Drop your weapon. I need to be lifted to the tunnel above us and don’t leave my side.”

The Reaper dropped their scythe and the spindly thing disappeared instantly. Marluxia motioned to the others hurriedly.

“The rest of you keep the air full of petals. Cull any lesser Heartless who get within range and stay out of the water.”

The rest of the Reapers dispersed and began loosing furls of petals that were a light pink in color and glowed faintly. The sheer number of them aided in lighting the rest of the well as Xigbar’s darts eventually faded. The hulking Reaper grabbed Marluxia under his arms and lifted him up. As soon as his feet left solid ground, nerves ate at the corners of his psyche. The higher up they went, the darker the depths became and Marluxia was acutely aware that he was a sitting duck.

“Watch the webs,” he said.

The Reaper nodded dutifully and doubled its efforts, though Marluxia could tell it wasn’t strong enough to carry him for long. The jerking motions, the slowed pace. And while it couldn’t speak, Marluxia was keenly aware of what it was thinking.

The first platform was too far away.

Marluxia took another deep breath and steadied himself as the spider Heartless clamoured out of the water and back up the wall, screaming after them and spitting streams of acid. Marluxia lurched to the right, just barely barreling out of the way as the Reaper struggled to stay on course. They went sideways and crashed into the wall. Marluxia kicked from the wall as well and try as he might, he was going to need to get creative if he was going to survive. Killing the Heartless was the most important part.

Meanwhile, Xigbar was desperately trying to cut himself out of the dark cocoon he had been wrapped in. He hadn’t seen it coming, which was rare. This thing had been nearly imperceptible, which made sense considering how well it used its webs to its advantage. He’d been silenced first and then pulled through a portal and into the chamber. Sharpshooter had been disarmed and his hands burned from the thing’s devious acid. All in a matter of seconds and he was wrapped up to his neck in black web that glued everything into place. He probably should have read the file more thoroughly.

He’d been able to summon a single Sniper in total silence to get at unraveling this mess, but as he cut away more and more of the cage, he’d get stuck to the wall and then his hands would be glued shut and the sinewy web would stitch back together. All in all a horrible experience really.

And Marluxia had been tossed around like a ragdoll.

Thankfully he could still shoot arrows into the darkness and hope that he wasn’t riddling his colleague full of holes. That probably wouldn’t look good on his record, and just so happened to be the worst way for him to get the praise he was looking for. He’d have to wow and impress. Go above and beyond.

The idea hatched naturally. Being the higher ranked of the two of them, Xigbar was allotted certain perks that allowed him to throw his weight around when he wanted to. Of course, he wouldn’t normally do that, but this wasn an exception. With a shrill whistle and a mental tug, Marluxia’s Reapers abandoned their post and quickly cut through the webbing as Xigbar regained use of his hands and continued to rain darts down into the murky water.

Marluxia was dangling in a Reaper’s grasp - ah, so that was the one who ignored him - and they were struggling to get to a more advantageous position. The spider Heartless was in hot pursuit, swinging on its webs with a potent attack lined up. Xigbar forced the very fabric of reality to bend to his whim, and he readied another more aggressive volley of attacks as he floated into the place.

The walls were beginning to teem with hundreds of eyes as Heartless wormed their way into the chamber, answering the call to action and reaching out with wiry arms and hissing cries. Xigbar took his shot as Marluxia pushed out of the Reaper’s arms, Graceful Dahlia poised.

What was he doing?

Right for the Heartless?

Marluxia swung with all his might, twirling and rotating as his scythe became a vicious blade coated in energy that blasted into the Heartless’s thorax. Xigbar followed with a powerful and eager dart that ripped through the opening created, and the Heartless howled as it fell once more, Snipers and Reapers cutting all the webbing in unison.

The Heartless crashed into the cistern below and the water funneled up into a small cone of darkness before collapsing as well. Marluxia began to fall and he dropped Graceful Dahlia as he reached out for his Reaper and missed. There was a brief flurry of panic as his stomach flopped uncomfortably, but he was met with another gloved hand. Xigbar’s.

Xigbar’s feet were held in place by the force of his space magic, and Marluxia dangled above a pit of piranha Heartless, all eager to eat their felled companion in a mad dash to get to the heart inside. Marluxia sighed.

“Nice catch,” he said, water curling down his face.

Xigbar flushed, but as darkness surrounded them once more and the blinking lights of the reinforcements faded, Marluxia didn’t see.

\---

The bathrooms in the Castle That Never Was were communal. There were a number of complaints about this peppered throughout the years and the universal response was usually “then use your private bathroom”. But the private bathrooms didn’t have a large soaking tub, and after a mission involving trudging through waterways, climbing up walls, and swimming out of danger, neither Marluxia nor Xigbar had enough energy to complain about the other’s presence.

Marluxia had taken an extraordinarily long time to comb through his hair and clean all the debris out of it. He was currently neck deep in near boiling water to soak out the aches in his body after hitting water from such a height. All his muscles were sore and he was certain there would be some marks left over, even if they ultimately healed down the road.

Xigbar, similarly, had taken a long time to get all the sticky black spider silk out of his hair. They’d stayed mostly silent despite sharing the facilities, though Xigbar’s mind was reeling. Marluxia had made it his intentions perfectly clear. Saix hadn’t really said much when they had returned and Xemnas had been preoccupied.

Did Marluxia know something?

Xigbar, who had also been neck deep in the water sank further, blowing a stream of bubbles through his nose. Marluxia didn’t move, but he did huff.

“Something on your mind?” Marluxia asked, his voice echoing off the tiled walls.

“As if.”

“You sound upset.”

Xigbar shifted and sat up straighter. “Nah.”

“Curious?”

“If you knew, why did you ask in the first place?”

Marluxia sat up as well. The water sloshed around the two of them and they fell into silence for a long time before Marluxia took it upon himself to close the gap between them in a single fluid motion. Xigbar had half a mind to flee before he was ensnared in another web.

Not that he thought he would mind. He liked it when Marluxia was forward with him. Didn’t happen often, but it was always exciting when it did.

“Because I saw the way you looked at me when we were in the tunnels.” Another pause, this one contemplative. “You never get flustered.”

“Not really,” Xigbar grunted.

Marluxia hummed. “Right.” He settled back into a more passive position, his shoulder just an inch from Xigbar’s. “Nothing fazes you, does it? An admirable trait in a superior I suppose.”

Xigbar’s cheeks reddened but he’d swear it was the steam from the bath.

Marluxia’s lips curled minutely and he took a steadying breath. “Must be hard.”

Xigbar would later swear that it was just the way the water embraced his body that made him so stiff all of a sudden. He visualized himself begging for those eyes to stay on him. Those passing glances tinted with blue and filled with a genuine admiration, even if it was pretending to be superficial. Xigbar craved it. He’d do quite literally anything to obtain it.

Suddenly, they were nose to nose, Marluxia’s presence was intoxicating and Xigbar drank in every compliment. How smart he was for thinking so quickly, how well he handled difficult decisions, how much Marluxia appreciated his persistence.

Xigbar nearly got cold feet. And just as he was certain he’d be able to prove himself in a different way, there was an echoing bang as Demyx barrelled into the bathroom, complaining of sand and sweat followed by a Dusk with a dustpan and broom.

Marluxia withdrew and Xigbar mentally cursed Demyx for his bad timing.

“Worry not,” Marluxia whispered, standing and stepping out of the bath. “If your knees don’t hurt too much, old man, you can show me how good you are with a different set of skills.”

**Author's Note:**

> And then they fucked.
> 
> For an exchange thing i was a part of.


End file.
